Olivia Cooke faces “vitriolic” comments from fans about her House of the Dragon character, Alicent Hightower. Photo / Getty Images
She said: “It can be quite vitriolic at times. I don’t want this to come across as ‘Woe is me’, because I’m very grateful for the job, but to field insults when you’re just walking down the street …
“They want a picture with you, then afterwards, they’ll say, ‘I f****** hate your character, by the way,’ or, ‘Your character’s a ****.’
“I sort of laugh and say, ‘Well, you can delete that picture.’
“I don’t know what you can do. I just try and take it in my stride.”
When Olivia and co-star Emma D’Arcy were first promoting House of the Dragon, they went viral thanks to a clip of them discussing their favourite drinks, with the Ready Player One actress declaring her pal – who plays Rhaenyra Targaryen – to have made a “stunnin’” choice with the negroni sbagliato.
Olivia said: “I just think it was interesting that in our attention-deficit economy, that after a very wide-ranging career, that was the thing I was most notable for. But like everything, it lasted for about 15 minutes.”
Asked if she stopped saying “stunnin’” as a result of the scrutiny, she said: “Oh! Maybe. Just initially. Out of annoyance.
“I can get a bit of an attitude when it comes to these things, but it was all good-natured. It was just very bizarre.”